Now, to clarify something – damn rules! These results were counted and verified on March 1st, 2015 at 4:00 p.m. GMT, just to make sure no one said they did vote, but it was after the deadline. So if you voted outside of the week’s timeframe, I’m sorry to say it, but your votes weren’t counted. Right, let’s get started!

10: When Ulrika Jonsson had her faux pas(Eurovision 1998)

Kicking off our top 10 is Ulrika Jonsson, who was given the joint role of hosting, with Terry Worgan so it was going to be a little bit tongue-in-cheek, wasn’t it? Everything was going perfectly – Guildo’s performance included (if you can call scaling the set perfect!), so we just had to get to the small matter of the voting – no pressure Ulrika. When it came to the Dutch votes, it was up to Conny Vandenbos to announce them, but only after reminding the people in the arena – and at home – that she had been on the competition before. And what could Ulrika Jonsson say but “A long time ago, was it?”. This led to an uproar of laughter and chatter..Conny did eventually respond to the question, saying that it was indeed a long time ago, but no one could hear her remark over the laughter…it was rather schooling at the time, but with only 10 votes, I’m afraid it’s not shocking enough to be crowned our #1.

9: When t.A.T.u. were booed off the stage, but still came in third place(Eurovision 2003)

Hmm.. What could you possibly say about t.A.T.u and Eurovision? I suppose you could say that they were one of the most controversial artists to be sent to the Contest.. Russia’s two publicity-stunt lesbians were almost adamant that they would triumph outright on stage in Riga, even though their song was rather..sub-standard for Russia to send to Eurovision. The girls constantly were missing rehearsals and causing controversy wherever they were going. But once they started dissing off fellow artists, that was when people really started to lose their rag with the duo, with the girls calling Germany’s Lou a “witch”. So you’d imagine on the night of the show, we were expecting a large, spectacular show. That was not what we got. And we responded in the way we should have – we booed. We were expecting an extravaganza, but got two girls screaming and singing the same note all the time…so how come you, Europe, voted for them so much? I’ll leave that up to you to figure out. However, with only 16 votes for the girls, even they aren’t controversial enough to be #1…sorry Russia, but you are the Controversy Country – I think last year would be a perfect example?

8: When Cyprus gave Turkey a large amount of points(Eurovision 2003)

[To see Cyprus’ votes, go to 7:18 in the video!]

Now, here at ESC Views, we try our hardest not to bring politics into things, unless we have done an article on it…(which are many, not gonna lie!) but, instead of a story about bad politics, this could be a story of peace.. Well, everyone should know the story with Cyprus at this point, so I’m going to spare you from having to recite it, but let’s face it; Turkey has very, VERY rarely been given many points from Cyprus – and to be honest, who can blame them? When it came to 2003, however, that was to come to an end. Loukas Hamatsos was left with the job of announcing the results. So, he went through his previous seven points, as was the norm in Eurovision pre-2006..and holding up the peace sign, he spoke the words “Europe, peace from Cyprus. Turkey 8 points”, and it was done. Perhaps the Cypriots voted for the song because it was good, or maybe it was a political movement..it’s worth noting that Greece got the 12 points too, just to throw it out there. When it came to the poll, 18 votes were cast in favour of this being one of the most shocking moments in ESC history..it is shocking, but it’s shocking – in a good way!

7: When Conchita Wurst won Eurovision 2014(Eurovision 2014)

Oh, let’s play this old record again, shall we? When Conchita was selected to represent Austria back in September of 2013, it’s fair to say that she caused enough controversy as it was for that time..as she always does. However, with a song like ‘Rise Like A Phoenix’, perhaps some people would look past the beard and focus on the song? That’s still kind of hard to tell, seeming as some countries that would normally never vote for a drag queen DID…i.e. Ukraine, Russia, Georgia, Estonia, Latvia etc.. Was her win on the song, or the beard? We didn’t really think so, but what do you think? Let us know in the comments! 19 votes were cast for Conchita to be the #1 shocking moment..well, she might have been controversial, but she wasn’t enough to be our #1, sorry Conchita, but at least you are the reason we’re off to Vienna in two months! So you know….silver linings!

6: When Dana International was tripped up on stage(Eurovision 1999)

From one prominent LGBT winner to another – the one and only Dana International! After triumphing in Birmingham the year before, somehow managing to emerge from the aftermath of Ulrika’s aforementioned faux pas, she was now officially the titleholder…well, I say ‘titleholder’, I mean ‘titlefaller’. Once Charlotte Nilsson Pirelli was declared the winner, it was up to Dana to hand the then rather odd looking trophy over to the victorious Swede, and when you’re just about to do it, you have to fall over, don’t you! Everyone flew into a unison of gasps and gawks afterwards, but luckily the trophy wasn’t damaged, so it was still able to transfer it over to Charlotte. There’s two versions of this that you could believe. Version A is that the trophy was too heavy for Dana to carry, and she collapsed to the floor due to the heaviness of the trophy. Version B is that one of the people that onstage stepped on her dress’ train, which essentially caused a circa-1998 version of Cape-gate. Whichever one you choose to believe is entirely up to you! In the poll, there was 20 votes that were cast for this..it’s still better than the other 4 moments, according to you fans!

5: When Silvia Night failed to qualify for the final – and the tantrum afterwards(Eurovision 2006)

So…hmm…..I’d love to let this just speak for itself, but I really can’t. So, you know Silvia Night? Yeah, she didn’t get through..don’t tell her though, she’ll freak..and actually, that is what she did, when the results came in on the Thursday night of the 2006 Contest. Storming off in a blaze of fire, the media craved after her for her reactions, to which she said this in her thick, stereotypical Icelandic accent:

Ungrateful bastards! You vote for some ugly looking from Finland, who don’t even have a real makeup artist, and you don’t vote for me because you know…you know, I’m not a slut from Holland and I’m not a fucking old bitch from Sweden!

If this was not on the top 10, something would have been EXTREMELY fishy about it! This piece of TV gold had us Eurovision fans and general public in shock and awe, as to how someone could be such a sore loser. Although, this was really only the icing on the cake for Silvia, as she caused massive controversy during rehearsals calling technical staff “amateurs”, not co-operating when rehearsing and having journalists removed from the media center because they looked at her -Ágústa Eva Erlendsdóttir played her ever so well, I swear! Silvia also received 20 votes in the poll, but she reached the 20 votes first and therefore she was to be your #5 most shocking moment ever in the history of the Eurovision!

4: When four countries tied for first place(Eurovision 1969)

This moment – quite considered to be a bit of a golden gem on the Eurovision jukebox – is now officially your #4 most shocking moment in Eurovision history, gathering 32 votes. Now, ties in Eurovision aren’t exactly rare – heck even in 1991, France and Sweden tied for first place (although Carola emerged victorious, it really should have been France that won, particularly in the song quality of things). Back then, however, there were no rules if there was a tie break situation, so this kind of left them in the awkward situation – what the fuck do we do here? Lulu from the UK, Salomé from Spain, Lenny from the Netherlands and Frida from France were all declared the winner with 18 points and luckily, there were four medals ready to be handed out by the previous winner Massiel…although three of those medals were for the winning song’s maestro and songwriters…whoops! But nevertheless, a moment of happiness born of awkwardness, it was one of the most memorable moments of Eurovision, I’m sure you can all agree!

3: When Kate Ryan failed to qualify for the final(Eurovision 2006)

So, this is where the idea of the “fanwank”, otherwise known as the “Kate Ryan Effect” was spawned from. As avid Eurovision followers (otherwise, why would you be reading this blog?), you all knew that Kate Ryan was one of the favourites to win the Contest, with an unprecedented amount of fans backing her in Athens. So, it was a sure thing that Belgium would qualify for the final of Eurovision 2006, yes? Turns out – no, it wasn’t. After a seemingly effortless performance, complete with wind machine, dancers and dance routine, it was left to Europe to send her to the Grand Final…and then they didn’t….oops. The songstress only finished in 12th place, but I do seem to remember a scene similar to public outrage in the arena, if I am correct? Eurovision fans were left wondering ‘why’? Well, at least Kate was gracious in her defeat! A total of 33 votes were cast for this by you Eurofans and although it was a cause for outrage back in 2006, it shows at least it’s died down – but just a tad!

Just pipped to the post at #2 is this really quite awkward moment back in 2010 – and who doesn’t remember this?! Even just from their starting position , you could tell that something was going to go awry for Spain; with the worst chance to win by singing from position number 2 to what ensued onstage. During the end of the first of chorus, the stage was invaded by Jimmy Jump, a very well known prankster from Spain. He started to prance around the stage alongside the dancers, while close up shots of Daniel Diges revealed a facial expression of pure “what the fuck is he doing?!”. Luckily, security managed to get him off the stage, catch him and fine him the equivalent of €2,000. However, because of the stage invasion – Svante Stockselius (does anyone remember him?) granted the chance for Daniel to perform again after Denmark at the end of the competition – and true to form, Spain’s second attempt went off without a hitch…like that made much of a difference! 41 votes were cast in favour of this being your most shocking moment in Eurovision history in the poll, but I’m afraid that it finished second against our #1.. which is….*much tension*

1: When Australia débuted in Eurovision 2015(Eurovision 2015)

(Personally, I don’t blame you!) Way out in the lead with 76 votes, Australia débuting in Eurovision 2015 is officially your #1 Most Shocking Moment in ESC history! Back in February, it was announced that Australia would take part in Eurovision 2015, bringing the number of competing countries up to the magic number of 40! Well, it’s fair to say that it really did divide opinions in the fandom..However, we all have managed to get over the fact that they are taking part and so, we are to wait until the night of the final to see how well Australia will do! It might be a good thing really – with many fans reacting positively to Guy Sebastian’s song “Tonight Again”, it’s possible that Australia might do very well on the night! Will they win? We will have to wait and see!

So guys, that is what you decided on your top 10 Shocking Moments! Do you agree with the voting? What topics would you like us to cover next? Feel free to tell us what you think by commenting below!